sky13
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2012
- Messages
- 981
Edit: Oops I meant 8-9 Dec, got my dates confused!
Came back from a last minute solo weekend break last Sunday and here are some of my highs/lows/thoughts:
Highs
Eurostar: can't believe how quick it is to take the Eurostar between London and Disneyland. The Eurostar is also a really nice/comfortable train. Only downsides are that the check in at St Pancras was a little overcrowded and there was a very long queue for immigration on the way back.
Dream AP: this is my first ever AP for any theme park. Mainly got this as would like to go again sometime in the next year, and the AP is cheaper or similar in price to two two-day tickets. Plus the perks were great - free luggage storage, free aperitif for my meal at Walt's, discounts on food/shopping, and extra magic hours (especially this as was staying off site)! Was also very lucky that the Annual Passport office was deserted when I went to make my AP (at 2.30pm on Saturday), especially when I walked past the office on Sunday and saw a queue stretching out the door...
Walt's. I went here for a meal following all the recommendations I've seen about it, and it really was fantastic. Food and service were both excellent!
Phantom Manor: I missed this on both previous visits to DLP (was closed both times) so was glad I finally got to take this ride!
Dreams. This show is fantastic. One of the CMs I spoke to said "don't miss it!" - and I'm glad I didn't miss it! It's on par with World of Color in DCA, and I loved how they incorporated the castle into the show. It was also quite clever to have half the dialogue in English and the other half in French! No Mickey though... But so glad I arrived 20 minutes early and got a good viewing spot, and would love to see it again!
Lows
Not getting to ride Space Mountain. I remember really liking this the last time I went (4 years ago) and really wanted to ride it again. However it was down most of Saturday, and when it came back up it was posting wait times of well over an hour up until park closing time (10pm). On Sunday it was working for the first 20 minutes of EMH, but by the time I got there it had gone down. It came back up around 12.30pm and I joined the queue for it - and was near the end of the queue when it went down again. Waited around 20 minutes for it to come back up, but then left as didn't know how much longer it would be and wanted to get to my reservation at Walt's. It did come back up later but wait times were again over an hour, and I didn't have enough time to wait as needed to catch the Eurostar back...
Smoking in the parks: still a lot of people who smoke in the parks. Though not as bad as I expected and better than I remember how it was 4 years ago. Also quite thankful that the CM at Crush's coaster stopped a couple from joining the queue right behind me as they were smoking (or that would have been a very unpleasant queuing experience!).
Queue cutting and people standing very close behind in queues: I found the queue lines quite wide, which is normally a good thing. Unfortunately some people saw this as an opportunity to try to get around me (I was on my own)! Also some people had no concept of personal space - in at least a couple of queues the person queuing behind me stood so close to me that I couldn't even swing my backpack around without hitting the person!
Other and thoughts
Crowds. Okay this was a weekend in December and I suppose I was asking for this really! I did still manage to do most of what I wanted with the help of Fastpass, staying until late, and EMH. In particular, on Saturday Disneyland was open until 10pm, but the park emptied significantly after 7pm and walked onto Indiana Jones and Pirates (whereas earlier in they day they were posting wait times of 60 minutes or so). And for EMH the wait times were around 5-10 minutes, and walked on to Buzz Lightyear and Peter Pan during EMH!
Walt Disney Studios Park. I didn't like the feel of WDS very much - I think it's to do with the abundance of painted walls compared to the rich facades of neighbouring Disneyland Park. I also didn't like how I had to walk through Studio 1 (?) to get into the park proper - it was so crowded inside that building! I think maybe WDS is similar to what DCA was like before DCA's recent additions/rejuvenation, and that it has the potential to become like what DCA is now - especially since it already has some great rides (Aerosmith, ToT, Crush's Coaster). But at the moment it is definitely a half-day park...
Park hopping. WDS and Disneyland are right next to each other, but to park hop you need to walk all the way out, then make almost a U-turn (maybe 300 degrees?) back towards the other park! Would be nice if they had a short cut or something between the two parks...
Duffy - I really like Duffy! Never felt the urge to get a Mickey stuffed toy (not cuddly enough) or a Pooh stuffed toy (still not quite cuddly enough) but fell in love with Duffy!
Merchandise: the prices for merchandise in DLP is much higher than identical merchandise in Disneyland California or in Disney Store UK. I suppose this is to make more money from people visiting?
Overall
I really enjoyed this trip to DLP, and there's really something magical about Disneyland. Unfortunately everyone I know now thinks I am a total Disneyland addict - which I probably am!
Being solo at Disneyland was also quite nice, in that I got to do what I wanted when I wanted. Queues were also okay because I just read on my Kindle while in the queue (got a lot of reading done over the weekend what with the train rides and the queues and staking out a spot for Dreams!).
Hoping to go back sometime next year - have to make good use of the AP after all!
Came back from a last minute solo weekend break last Sunday and here are some of my highs/lows/thoughts:
Highs
Eurostar: can't believe how quick it is to take the Eurostar between London and Disneyland. The Eurostar is also a really nice/comfortable train. Only downsides are that the check in at St Pancras was a little overcrowded and there was a very long queue for immigration on the way back.
Dream AP: this is my first ever AP for any theme park. Mainly got this as would like to go again sometime in the next year, and the AP is cheaper or similar in price to two two-day tickets. Plus the perks were great - free luggage storage, free aperitif for my meal at Walt's, discounts on food/shopping, and extra magic hours (especially this as was staying off site)! Was also very lucky that the Annual Passport office was deserted when I went to make my AP (at 2.30pm on Saturday), especially when I walked past the office on Sunday and saw a queue stretching out the door...
Walt's. I went here for a meal following all the recommendations I've seen about it, and it really was fantastic. Food and service were both excellent!
Phantom Manor: I missed this on both previous visits to DLP (was closed both times) so was glad I finally got to take this ride!
Dreams. This show is fantastic. One of the CMs I spoke to said "don't miss it!" - and I'm glad I didn't miss it! It's on par with World of Color in DCA, and I loved how they incorporated the castle into the show. It was also quite clever to have half the dialogue in English and the other half in French! No Mickey though... But so glad I arrived 20 minutes early and got a good viewing spot, and would love to see it again!
Lows
Not getting to ride Space Mountain. I remember really liking this the last time I went (4 years ago) and really wanted to ride it again. However it was down most of Saturday, and when it came back up it was posting wait times of well over an hour up until park closing time (10pm). On Sunday it was working for the first 20 minutes of EMH, but by the time I got there it had gone down. It came back up around 12.30pm and I joined the queue for it - and was near the end of the queue when it went down again. Waited around 20 minutes for it to come back up, but then left as didn't know how much longer it would be and wanted to get to my reservation at Walt's. It did come back up later but wait times were again over an hour, and I didn't have enough time to wait as needed to catch the Eurostar back...
Smoking in the parks: still a lot of people who smoke in the parks. Though not as bad as I expected and better than I remember how it was 4 years ago. Also quite thankful that the CM at Crush's coaster stopped a couple from joining the queue right behind me as they were smoking (or that would have been a very unpleasant queuing experience!).
Queue cutting and people standing very close behind in queues: I found the queue lines quite wide, which is normally a good thing. Unfortunately some people saw this as an opportunity to try to get around me (I was on my own)! Also some people had no concept of personal space - in at least a couple of queues the person queuing behind me stood so close to me that I couldn't even swing my backpack around without hitting the person!
Other and thoughts
Crowds. Okay this was a weekend in December and I suppose I was asking for this really! I did still manage to do most of what I wanted with the help of Fastpass, staying until late, and EMH. In particular, on Saturday Disneyland was open until 10pm, but the park emptied significantly after 7pm and walked onto Indiana Jones and Pirates (whereas earlier in they day they were posting wait times of 60 minutes or so). And for EMH the wait times were around 5-10 minutes, and walked on to Buzz Lightyear and Peter Pan during EMH!
Walt Disney Studios Park. I didn't like the feel of WDS very much - I think it's to do with the abundance of painted walls compared to the rich facades of neighbouring Disneyland Park. I also didn't like how I had to walk through Studio 1 (?) to get into the park proper - it was so crowded inside that building! I think maybe WDS is similar to what DCA was like before DCA's recent additions/rejuvenation, and that it has the potential to become like what DCA is now - especially since it already has some great rides (Aerosmith, ToT, Crush's Coaster). But at the moment it is definitely a half-day park...
Park hopping. WDS and Disneyland are right next to each other, but to park hop you need to walk all the way out, then make almost a U-turn (maybe 300 degrees?) back towards the other park! Would be nice if they had a short cut or something between the two parks...
Duffy - I really like Duffy! Never felt the urge to get a Mickey stuffed toy (not cuddly enough) or a Pooh stuffed toy (still not quite cuddly enough) but fell in love with Duffy!
Merchandise: the prices for merchandise in DLP is much higher than identical merchandise in Disneyland California or in Disney Store UK. I suppose this is to make more money from people visiting?
Overall
I really enjoyed this trip to DLP, and there's really something magical about Disneyland. Unfortunately everyone I know now thinks I am a total Disneyland addict - which I probably am!
Being solo at Disneyland was also quite nice, in that I got to do what I wanted when I wanted. Queues were also okay because I just read on my Kindle while in the queue (got a lot of reading done over the weekend what with the train rides and the queues and staking out a spot for Dreams!).
Hoping to go back sometime next year - have to make good use of the AP after all!
glad you enjoyed your trip, especially Walt's and Dreams! 
